Where To Eat This Week: July 23-29

Make the most out of your mealtime with our bite-sized round-up of timely treats. This last week of July is looking like a truly exciting week of star-studded collaboration dinners and special menus. Here are a few key highlights to whet the appetite

1

Ginza Rokukakutei

Head chef Hideyuki Tanaka combines his love for kushiage and warm sake in a special one-night-only pairing dinner on July 31. He will be serving a 10-course menu of deep-fried skewers consisting of signatures such as angel prawns, green pea croquette and scallops, as well as seasonal items.

If you still need convincing, note that he has partnered with Ota Brewery in the Tottori Prefecture to serve five varieties of premium sake, including its prized BenTen Musume. Its master brewer Shotaro Ota will also be flying in and on hand to share more about his winning sake.

For executive chef Kenji Yamanaka’s first four-hands collaboration, which takes place from July 26 to 28, he is collaborating with two-Michelin-starred chef Arnaud Dunand Sauthier of Bangkok’s Le Normandie on a not-to-be-missed six-course degustation menu.

Both are known for their French expertise but have injected Asian accents to create tantalising dishes like the pigeon mineral de bresse (Arnaud), where the poultry is skilfully roasted and plated with fresh rocket and Japanese melon; and Amadai (Yamanaka) prepared ‘Matsukasa-yaki’ style—the fish is grilled skin-side down at a high temperature to achieve an extremely crispy texture and then bathed in a toothsome chicken consommé. Top up for optional wine pairing.

Have a taste of summer in Italy at this elegant Italian restaurant with executive chef Chua Jing Xuan’s summer-inspired degustation and set lunch menus, available until August. Depending on your appetite at dinner, choose between the five- and seven-course offerings. Whichever you pick, you’ll enjoy restaurant signatures such as pan-fried Hokkaido scallops with saffron sauce, smoked caviar and sea urchin; and its black ink risotto accented with grilled squid, stracchino cheese and parsley powder.

Pressed for time? Head over for lunch instead and dig into a simple starter of rock melon wrapped in parma ham, followed by a hearty serving of spaghetti doused in a classic tomato and basil sauce, and finish with the all-time favourite Illy flavoured tiramisu.

We might be counting down the days until the restaurant unveils its indulgent durian buffet spread on July 27, but fret not, it runs until August 26, just in case you plan to come back for more. There is a lot to take in, but we suggest starting with lighter dishes, such as the durian wild rice and chicken salad, baked durian nasi lemak and durian salted egg popcorn chicken. And from the dessert section, there’s the classic durian pengat, and durian with avocado puree and sago.

Book Ahead: Kimme X Hey Handsome

What a way to kick off the month of August! Head chef Louis Han of Kimme is cooking with head chef Nicco Santos of Hey Handsome in Manila for an inspired feast of Asian flavours on August 1 and 2. The seven-course menu, available for dinner only, is a bit of a surprise, but do expect a combination of Han’s modern Korean dishes inspired by chef Sun Kim of Meta’s culinary philosophy (who also owns the restaurant), and Santos’ south Asian fare with influences from Malaysian, Peranakan, Japanese and Chinese cuisines.

Here’s another exciting dinner happening on the first two days of August, and worth noting down. Neon Pigeon’s bringing back The Cocktail Series, and Tokyo Lima’s Peruvian chef Arturo Melendez is flying in to treat diners to his interpretation of the increasingly popular Nikkei cuisine. Obviously, his signatures are part of the menu—from the Yellow Tiradito, a zingy starter of raw yellowtail that’s “cooked in citrus” and served with passionfruit tigers milk enlivened with tobiko and crispy sweet potato, to the grilled Octopus Stick, a typical Peruvian street food elevated with black olive tapenade, carrot puree and capers.

Down these with four cocktails inspired by elements of Nikkei cuisine, available exclusively during the event. Always a refreshing choice is the Ichigo, concocted with Monkey 47, Amontillado sherry, sake, passionfruit, and pickled strawberry.